Truck.



H. E. JOHNSON.

TRUCK.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.1,191Z.

1,091,516, Patented Mar. 31, 1914.

most truck controlled by an operator.

trucks are ordinarily'constructed, those at.

- great advantage, since it is desirable. and.

TTNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.)

HENRY E. JOHNSON, OF OMAHA, NEBRASKA.

TRUCK.

control to consist of simple devices which may be economically constructed and may be conveniently applied to the trucks.

In the handling'of freight by use of hand trucks it is often desirable that several of them may be connected in tandemor'der or end to end, to be drawn upon curves; and it lS'lIllDOItflIlbtllil'b all of the trucks thus coir nected may move substantially in thesame curved line or circle traversed'by the fore.-

the rear. will move nearer to the center of the circle than the foremost truck, when they are connected end to end and an attempt is made to move them upon regular curves, for the reasonthat. the angle of the front and rear axle of each truck, to the longitudinal axis of the truck, will not'be uniform. By employing the'herein describedtrucks, an operator, by use of the tongue, may .cause the foremost one to move upon any desired curve or curves, and the other trucks, connected and drawn therewith, will all describethe same curves and this is of invention also'has reference to a convenientmeans for connecting the trucks, and-to the mountings-of the tongues.

\Vitli these objects in view and others to be mentioned, the invention consists of the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts as described herein and claimed, and as illustrated in the accom- Figure 1 is a plan view showing the lower parts of a truck, the relative position or out jliiie of the platform being indicated by:

broken lines. Fig. 2.is-a side view ofthe truck, the platform being in section Fig.

3 is a plan view, showing several trucks disnosed end to end and connected. Fig. 1

- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 31, 1914.

Application filedNovember 1, 1912. Serial No. 729,079.

is an enlarged detail showing a part of a guide in longitudinal section, the connected reaches being in transverse section. Fig. -5 is an enlarged, broken View, being a detail relating to Fig. 1, .to clearly show a part of a guide and the connected reaches.

eferring now to thedrawing for a more particular (lGSCllPtlOIt, numeral 5 indicates. the. front axle and 6 the rear axle of a truck,

and upon the upper side of each. axle is disposed and suitably secured the horizontal,

lower member'a of a fifth Wheel 7 the up per memberb of each fifth wheel being seated upon the lower member a and rigidly secured to the platform by means of brackets 8.

. At- 9 and 10 are indicated, respectively,

the front hounds andrear hounds. of the truck, each being substantially of U-'shape, and having curved end-portions c conforming to the curvature of and adapted to be secured upon the lower-face of the lower member a .of a fifth wheel, its terminals being secured upon the axle by means of.

boltsid'; and by means of saic'; bolts, mem-.

The clevistheir lower sides or edges, and at 15 are in' lOQ At 16 and 17 are indicated levers, links or reach members.

The reach -.member 16 is disposed at right angles to the front axle 5;

it is formed with a longitudinal slot 18 (Fig.

5.) and has a part-which extends below the axle 5 to be rigidly secured by any suitable means to the lower member a. The lever or reach 17 has a partdisposed below the rear axle 6 to be rigidly secured to the lower member a thereof. 'It is formed with a longitudinalslot l9, and is disposed at right angles to said rear axle.

At 20 is indicated a horizontal guide or trackway, having parallel, upset edges or flanges f. It is disposed midway between bolt-apertures 21 of the fifth wheels, trans versely of the platform 22 and suitably secured at its ends to the platform by means of hangers or brackets 23. Disposed i'n slots 18 and 19 of the reaches and engaging in the trackway 20, is lug, pivot-pin or rider 24.

Any suitable king-bolts (not shown) may be employed and seated in apertures 21 for connecting the members a and b of each fifth wheel at their centers, so that thesemembers may swing in .opposite d'reetions; and an operator, by use of the tonue 11 may manually control the swinging movements of the front axle. v

During operation, when the front axle is disposed at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the truck, the movement of said truck, of course, will be in a straight line; and when it is desired to move it upon a curve, the operator, by use of the pole or tongue 11, may change the angle of the axle 5, and this change will cause the reach 16 to swing horizontally and transversely of the truck. The swinging movement of reach 16 will cause'a swinging movement of reach 17, since the lug 24 engages the trackway 20and engages within the slotsjof the reaches; and on account of the arrangement of the parts mentioned, while the rear axle will be swung reversely to the movement of the front axle,

both of the axles will be. maintained at an equal angle,lug 24 sliding in the trackway 20, the reaches being supported by said trackway, the slots 18 and 19 being engaged by the lug and permittinglongitudinal sliding movements of the reaches With reference to the connecting-lug, while theuxles are performing their swinging movements. It will thus be seen that the angle of movement of one axle may be controlled by the movement of the other axle; and .by reason of the construction, the angles in which the axles of a'trugz are disposed, with reference to the longitu Ina-l axis of the truck or the transversetrackway 20, are always equal. Since the tongues 11 are supported in an upright position by means of springs 12, they will not be obtrusive when: several of these trucks are connected end to end as shown in Fig. Vhen disposed in this manner to form a train, the clevis at the end of one truck may be swung upwardly to lie upon the clevis of an adjacent truck, and may be connected by a pin 25. v

In practice, for drawing a train of these I platform,

trucks upon curves, the operator, by use of the tongue of the foremost truck, may have a control to move it upon any desired curve. Since the rear axle of the foremost truck will be swung under control of the front axle, as described, it is obvious that the front axle of the truck which is connected to said rear axle will also be swung, with the resultthat all of the trucks, thus connected, will move upon the same curve, substantially, as the foremost truck; and'this is of great advantage for the handling of freight in warehouses where it is desired to move the train in cross-passageways, as first mentioned.

While the length of trackway 20 is shown to be substantially equal to the width of the and therefore would permit swinging movements of the axles in an are of forty five degrees, or substantially so, the trackway may have a length considerably less than shown, since a swinging movement for these axles of ten or fifteendegrees is all that is usually required.

Having fully explained my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters' Patent is,

1. A truck comprising, in combination with a body, front and rear axles arranged to have horizontal swinging movement, a transverse trackway of channel form secured to said body between said axles, a lever rigid with and projecting rearwardly from the front axle, a lever rigid with and projecting forwardl from the rear axle, said levers having overlappingends having elongated slots formed directly therein, a pivot member traversing the slots of'both of said levers and engaging in and being guided by said trackway, and a tongue. for shifting said front axle.

2. A truck, comprising in combination with a body, front, and rear axles, arranged to have horizontal swinging movement, a transverse trackway of U-shape in cross section secured to said body between said axles,

a lever rigid with and projecting rearwardly from the front axle, a lever rigid with and projecting forwardly from the rear axle,

said levers having overlapping ends which overlie and rest upon said trackwav and have elongated slots formed longitudinally therein, and a pivot member traversing the slots of both levers and depending into and being guided by said trackway.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY E. JOHNSON.

\Vitnesses I L. M. THOMAS, HmAM: A. STURGES. 

